Normally,the principal will authorise the agent to act on his/her behalf in advance of any exercise of the agent’s authority.However,where an agent acts without or beyond his/her authority,the principal may choose to adopt the contract by ratification.This article is going to explore some basic concepts of ratification,such as the definition of ratification,the methods of ratification and the effects of ratification.
If a person(known as the agent) acts without authority,or exceeds his authority,his actions cannot normally bind the person(known as the principal) on whose behalf he purports to act.However,subsequently,ratification allows the principal to adopt and endorse the agent’s acts.A remarkable feature of ratification is that it is retroactive in effect thereby becoming operative from the moment of the agent’s contracting with the third party rather than the moment of the principal’s ratification.
